Miguel Sabido (born 1937) is a producer, writer, researcher, and theorist, known for pioneering Entertainment-Education, developing the " Theory of the Tone", and producing a number of commercially successful

telenovela A telenovela is a type of a television serial drama or soap opera produced primarily in Latin America. The word combines ''tele'' (for "television") and ''novela'' (meaning "novel"). Similar Drama (film and television), drama genres around the w ...

s for

Televisa Grupo Televisa, S.A.B., simply known as Televisa, is a Mexican telecommunications and broadcasting company. A major Latin American mass media corporation, it often presents itself as the largest producer of Spanish-language content. In April ...

in the 1970s.

Biography

After being trained as a theater director and producer, Sabido discovered his "Theory of the Tone" as he was working with theater actors. The theory states that an actor can change not only their own delivery of dialogue and their associated body language, but the emotional resonance, the "tone" of the entire audience. Convinced that he could apply this method more widely, he tested it in 1967 by leveraging the readership of the Mexican tabloid '' Casos de Alarma''. He inserted content that would encourage readers to join the social security system of Mexico, assuming that low-brow entertainment would be a great way to spread public benefit messages. The campaign showed positive effects but was criticized by the Mexican academic community for being "not academically sound". The release of the

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

vian telenovela '' Simplemente María'' validated Sabido's assumptions, as the sale of

sewing machines Diagram of a modern sewing machine Animation of a modern sewing machine as it stitches A sewing machine is a machine used to sew fabric and materials together with thread. Sewing machines were invented during the first Industrial Revolution ...

increased dramatically after the telenovela aired. Being an active TV producer, he teamed up with then-president of

Emilio Azcárraga Milmo Emilio Azcárraga Milmo or Emilio Azcárraga Jr. (September 6, 1930, in San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas – April 16, 1997, outside Miami, Miami, Florida) was a Mexican businessman and the son of Emilio Azcárraga Vidaurreta and Laura Milmo Hi ...

, who challenged him to apply his "Theory of the Tone" to Televisa's TV programming sequence ("Carry-Over Curve"). Being enormously successful in this effort, Azcarraga gave Sabido an unprecedented level of access and power within Televisa, making him the Vice President of Research and eventually allowing him to produce six mainstream telenovelas. Miguel Sabido receiving multiple lifetime achievement awards at the SBCC Summit 2018

Miguel Sabido receiving multiple lifetime achievement awards at the SBCC Summit 2018

The first of its kind was '' Ven conmigo'', which was widely successful with a 32-point share and resulted in a million people enrolling in the

adult education Adult education, distinct from child education, is a practice in which adults engage in systematic and sustained educating activities in order to gain new knowledge, skills, attitudes, or values. Merriam, Sharan B. & Brockett, Ralph G. ''The Pr ...

system of Mexico after the series' 1-year runtime. By then, Sabido had formalized his approach, calling it "Entertainment with a proven social benefit", which would later become Entertainment-Education as it spread around the globe. Sabido went on to produce the

family planning Family planning is the consideration of the number of children a person wishes to have, including the choice to have no children, and the age at which they wish to have them. Things that may play a role on family planning decisions include marit ...

-themed telenovelas '' Acompáñame'', '' Vamos juntos'', '' Caminemos'', and '' Nosotros los Mujeres'' in the 1970s, which collectively resulted in a 34 percent decline of the population growth rate of Mexico. The

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

awarded Mexico with their Population Award; the

United States Agency for International Development The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an agency of the United States government that has been responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. Established in 1961 and reorganized in 1998 ...

's Thomas Donnelly wrote: "The Televisa family planning soap operas have made the single most powerful contribution to the Mexican population success story."

Albert Bandura Albert Bandura (4 December 1925 – 26 July 2021) was a Canadian-American psychologist and professor of social science in psychology at Stanford University, who contributed to the fields of education and to the fields of psychology, e.g. social ...

became an instrumental ally to Sabdio, explaining some of the enormous impact through his

social learning theory Social learning theory is a psychological theory of social behavior that explains how people acquire new behaviors, attitudes, and emotional reactions through observing and imitating others. It states that learning is a cognitive process that occur ...

and later going on to publish many papers on the effects of serial dramas.

David Poindexter David Poindexter (January 30, 1929 – February 8, 2018) was the founder of Population Communications International, a Methodism, Methodist minister, and a TV producer. After receiving a master's degree in theology and serving as a pastor for 8 ...

of Population Communications International saw great promise in this approach, and in a series of strategic meetings, he invited Sabido to teach his method worldwide in India, China, the Philippines, Egypt, and the Netherlands. Since then, Sabido has trained hundreds of producers and writers around the world in his method, which resulted in the formation of multiple non-profits and millions of dollars invested in Entertainment-Education programs around the globe, collectively reaching more than 2 billion beneficiaries.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sabido, Miguel 1937 births Living people Mexican telenovela producers Televisa people Writers from Mexico City 20th-century Mexican male writers

Biography

See also

References